The Haunting
by Twix10
Summary: A week in a haunted house- it seemed simple enough until the haunting started.


A fic I wrote for the FLOL 2nd annual Ichihime Halloween competition. I was trying for something creepy and scary but it was rather hard coming up with an idea since Bleach is already about death and all that but i tried. I at least hope you guys like it.

Please leave me a review if you have any comments or constructive criticism- those are always welcome!

On to the story:

P.S. I don't own Bleach or any of the characters- they're all Kubo Tite's but one day I'll marry him and when I divorce him, I'll get custody....

_**The Haunting**_

_Just yesterday…_

"_Alright," Keigo declared, slapping some brightly colored leaflets onto the table, his excitement evidently overflowing. "Have I got the greatest scoop or what!"_

"_What the hell is he babbling about so early in the day?" Renji inquired from next to Ichigo where he'd plopped down in order to steal some lunch from the other boy. _

"_It's best to just humour him," Tatsuki returned dryly before, somewhat cautiously, each of the eight teens reached forward and picked up one of the glossy pamphlets that lay in the middle of the table. _

_After a few moments, Ishida broke the silence that had ensued._

"_This is what you called us here for?"_

_Keigo frowned slightly at his tone but, never one to be easily deterred, quickly collected his thoughts and started excitedly._

"_Since we've all been so busy recently, I, Asano Keigo, have taken it upon myself to find something fun for us to do with this unexpected week's worth of holiday… and this is it! We, ladies and gentlemen, will be relaxing this week in a haunted house so prepare yourselves for a bit of spookiness!"_

"_You want us to stay in a haunted house for a week?" Renji clarified, raising a tattooed brow at the boy before glancing quickly over at Rukia who was still reading. _

"_What do you think, Ichigo?"_

_The orange-headed boy looked up at the big Mexican from his sheet and replaced it before answering smoothly. "I'm not going. I've got better things to do with my time." _

"_Iiiiiiiiccccccccchhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiggggggggggoooooo!"Keigo began melodramatically, "Why must you continue to crush my dreams with your cold-heartedness? Aren't we friends?"_

"_I won't be able to go either," Mizuiro voiced, "I already made plans to attend the Screamfest movie night with my girlfriend."_

_Keigo wheeled around to face the dark-haired boy, a hand over his heart. _

"_Et tu, Mizuiro?" he questioned before falling to Sado's shoulder in a melodramatic weep, mumbling, "They've all abandoned me…I'm so alone…ahh…to have friends…"_

"_Did you even read this?" Ishida asked suddenly and Keigo's head popped up, his eyes as dry as ever. _

"_O-of course I did," he returned affronted by the insinuation that he hadn't. _

"_I bet he didn't," Ichigo returned, "He probably just happily accepted it from some strange looking man handing out posters at the mall like he usually does."_

_Keigo paled slightly at this but managed to stutter, "N-no I didn't."_

_Ishida and Ichigo both shot him looks that clearly said they didn't believe that one bit before Ishida tore his gaze away to explain._

"_This poster says that this is actually part of some sort of competition. It says here that in celebration of the Western Halloween holidays, there will be a haunted house competition. Anyone who has received a flyer can invite up to dozen friends to the address listed at the back," at this they all turned the page, noting for the first time the address listed there, while Ishida continued, "It seems there are 12 houses to be used in the competition, located all around town. Cameras have been posted for recording and basically, all they want is for the group to stay in the house until the end of the week, from tonight until Sunday night, and if they can make it through the whole week, they win the prize- US$300 each."_

_Renji whistled at the sum. He had long since learned about the conversion rate of $US dollars so knew enough to know that that was quite a nice sum of pocket change. _

"_Tch…just to stay in a house for the week….something's off with that," Ichigo returned, "That can't be all there is to it."_

"_I'm certain it isn't," Ishida confirmed, pushing up his glasses, "But I also don't see the harm in us checking it out either."_

"_I guess it might be fun," Tatsuki added somewhat hesitantly, "Besides, it has been a while since we all hung out…"_

And somehow, that conversation had led him to his current position, standing outside in the dead of night outside a pair of large rusted gates. Beyond the gates lay their destination- an old house, older than most of the abandoned houses along this street and in worst repair than most as well. Part of the eaves to the left was falling off, the paint had long since lost it's lustre and was turning green with mold and the windows were clouded over with dirt and cobwebs. A dim, slightly green tinged light was flowing from inside those windows, casting the shadows outside into a kind of eerie twilight, tingeing the many cobwebs and the curling mists with its sickly hue. The two trees standing beside the old building, each looking just as creepy as the house with their bony like projections and half naked limbs, creaked and bent in the cold wind, spreading its shadow like an eerie demonic painting unto the sidewalk.

"They certainly went all out," he muttered to himself then, taking note of the lone, cobwebbed rocking chair in one corner or the verandah as well.

"They certainly did," Tatsuki agreed from his left, "just look at how realistic those cobwebs seem…and this mist….eerie. I can't wait to see what else is inside now."

"They really must have spent a lot of time on it," Orihime put in, "They even have a mannequin in the window."

"Where is it?" Tatsuki asked, her eyes darting around in search of the mannequin.

Ichigo sighed mentally at her enthusiasm. Trust her to get excited over something like this…

"I don't see any mannequins," Ishida cut into his tthoughts then.

"Its right there," Orihime started then broke off into silence when her hand just directed their gazes to an empty space.

Dropping her hand, she furrowed her brow, her face showing confusion before she stated with a little laugh, "It must have been a trick of the light."

However, Ichigo caught the way her eyes strayed to the window again, her frown deepening and when he turned to follow her stare, he could almost understand why.

Something had been there.

He could feel it with every fibre of his being and yet, he couldn't really _feel_ anything coming from the source...and that made him slightly apprehensive. He had always been able to see and sense ghosts and for him not to be able to see or sense anything now except for that feeling in himself, it made his own frown deepen and he suddenly had a very, very bad feeling about all of this.

"Well no use just standing out here," Ishida voiced then, "Let's go in. It's getting rather cold out here."

He made a move to say something then caught himself. There was no use getting everyone riled up over a feeling he couldn't justify, he told himself, so he'd just wait... Who knows? It might be nothing more than one of the tricks he was sure the house came with for the competition.

With no disagreement then, the group started towards the house.

As they stepped through the heavy gates, a sudden brisk wind started up. The old building started to groan in protest and despite his appropriate dress, his skin started to pimple with goose-bumps beneath the dark material of his sweater. Muttering a curse, Ichigo pulled the hood closer around his neck. As he did so, his eyes fell on the huddled form of the ginger-haired girl next to him but his gaze did not linger too long, switching back to the path almost immediately. In fascination, his eyes latched on to the thin fingers of fog that were drifting toward them, watching as they lifted from the ground like ghostly waifs only to curl around them like amorous asps, before breaking apart again as they strode towards the veranda.

The door to the old house opened rather easily, without keys, the hinges releasing a loud groan and they all trooped in only to stop in surprise at the darkness inside.

"Where's the damn light?" Renji asked and the sound of shifting and shuffling sounded before all of a sudden, the dark halls lit up in a dull hue.

"Whoa," Tatsuki breathed, "just look at this place! It's so realistic... Let's explore it before we do anything else…"

"That might be a good idea," Rukia voiced, speaking for the first time since they'd all arrived outside the gate and Ichigo suddenly realised that he had been rather quiet all the way here...

"Hmmm, at least we'll know where we stand with things," Renji agreed.

Why bother? Ichigo wanted to ask then but only just refrained himself from doing so.

The house was pretty much, as far as he could see, like every horror movie house they'd ever seen. Large and dark with paneled walls- check! A grandfather clock whose timing was somewhat off–check! Old style furniture (check), creaky floorboards (check), patterned rugs everywhere (check), paintings on the walls (check), old books, white covered furniture filled with sheets of dust and various animal heads hanging from strategic locations- all check.

"I'm almost expecting to see a rusty suit of armor jump out at us from somewhere," Ishida mumbled beside him.

"Hmm," Chad agreed silently.

"I wonder if Keigo even came by," Tatsuki voiced up then, "That would certainly explain his strange absence..."

"He probably came, got spooked and decided he didn't want to be involved," Ishida returned.

"Sounds like that guy....," Renji muttered before adding, "That guy's not too imoprtant anyway. If he doesn't want any of the money, that's his business. It's really just a cheap buck.... nothing to get too riled up over. Anyway, let's just do a tour so that we now where stuff is and then we can start to settle in."

The group piled their bags into one corner and removed their jackets, before, as if self-appointed as leader, Renji started off through the nearest door. The last to put away his stuff, Ichigo was in the process of pulling off his scarf as they walked through the door. As he made to throw the article of clothing on the haphazard pile of stuff, something shifted in the periphery of his gaze. He paused then, his attention and eyes immediately drawn to the now empty, undisturbed space.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

The soft call of Orihime's voice drew his attention back and he turned to acknowledge her briefly before glancing back at the space. Nothing seemed strange about it now but he made a sort of mental note of the event before turning fully towards her.

"I'm coming," he said striding towards her and the others who were standing slightly behind her.

As he reached her, he noticed her eyes seemed to be looking past him, fixated on something it semed over his left shoulder. Since it was in almst the same direction as he'd felt the disurbance, he couldn't help but follow her gaze and when his eyes landed on the same exact spot he'd been staring at only moments ago, a cold feeling of apprehension washed over him.

"Inoue," he began but she cut off his question with a bright smile and said, "We should hurry...the others have gone ahead."

He frowned slightly, realising then that the others had indeed started walking off without them.

"We should catch up with them," Orihime prompted again and he finally let himself comply, his feet moving towards the area where Ishida's form was just disappearing around a corner.

The niggling feeling he'd had since being outside didn't leave him as they trouped from room to room. In fact, it only intensified. With every room it came at him stronger and stronger, forcing him it seemed to pay attention and by the time they'd reached the upstairs, he could no longer escape the feeling that something was just very off within this old house. What it was, he wasn't sure and the fact that he couldn't see or sense any spirits or such only made him feel more on edge.

Along with this feeling of apprehension, there was also the very definite and surreal feeling that time was standing still.

In fact, more than once he had been tempted to look down at his watch to see if the hands were still moving but he had refrained from doing so, almost sure in his mind that it was just another one of the tricks to this house, something set up for the competition. Besides, that wasn't the most pressing issue. No, that…that would be the inexplicable feeling that they were being watched…

…and not just by the numerous portraits hanging in every room, the eyes of which seemed to follow them at every turn, but something else... or rather someone else that he couldn't see or sense.

"Is it just me, or is anyone suddenly feeling very tired?" Ishida asked as they returned to the main hall.

Tatsuki stifled a yawn at that.

"I do feel sleepy," she responded when all eyes turned to her, "but I suppose that has more to do with all the intense training of this week for my upcoming tournament and lack of sleep finally catching up to me than anything else."

She stifled another yawn.

"Well, just in case anyone else is tired, let's sort out the rooms," Ishida suggested, "the rest of us who aren't can just lounge around here or find something else to do."

Sounds of agreement echoed around the room and within the next few minutes, the sleeping arrangements were hammered out.

They had found three bedrooms. The girls decided to take the one with the double bed and a bunk bed in the corner and left the boys to decide on who slept where. This was quickly decided though as Ichigo, not ready to sleep, opted to bunk on the large couch in front of the TV downstairs. Renji decided to share the room with the two beds with Ishida since the other room, which went to Sado, only had a double bed.

That settled, Sado declared he would like to explore the dungeon they'd found downstairs some more; Renji stated he wasn't ready for sleep and was going to check things out outside before he turned in and Ishida wanted to locate the cameras. The girls, having decided to call it an early night and explore tomorrow simply bid their goodnights and went upstairs.

Left alone, Ichigo used his time to pack his stuff in with Sado's in his room before setting off to look at the many pictures and portraits on the walls. Some time later, bored, he returned to the living room. Nothing strange had seemed to jump out at him from the pictures and there had been no other disturbances like earlier. He hadn't even been able to sense that watchful presence...

Sighing and rubbing a hand over his face, he therefore settled down to watch the television. Not surprisingly, all that was on was horror movies of various genres and with a sigh, he settled down to watch Amityville.

Upstairs, Orihime shifted, trying to get comfortable, half envious of the soft breathing echoing from the other occupant of the room. (Rukia had left with the excuse she wanted to look at something and had yet to return).

Staring up at the white ceilings, she sighed.

She couldn't sleep.

She was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar place and a strange environment and…maybe coming here had not been such a good idea. She sighed again at this thought. She'd been having really bad nightmares lately. She had told no one else but Tatsuki, not wanting anyone else to worry. It was something she felt she had to deal with on her own. However, coupled now with the strange feeling niggling at her ever since she'd gotten here, she found herself suddenly wishing someone else was there with her. Perhaps then, she'd at least feel more comfortable to go to sleep as her senses wouldn't be on such high alert as it seemed to be now and her stomach, coiling in apprehension, would probably not be happening.

A cold wind ghosted over her arm just then and she shivered in response, pulling up the sheets around her chin even more securely.

_Inoue Orihime_, she scolded herself firmly then as her imagination got ready to run wild…_stop it. There is no reason to feel afraid here. Your overactive imagination is just getting the best of you. All of this is just stuff that has been set up…there is nothing to be afraid of._

Despite all her pep talk however, a few hours later, eyes wide open, pulse pounding in her brain, Orihime jerked upwards from the bed. The sheet pooled messily around her waist while a cold sweat dripped down her cheeks and, her eyes, still trapped in the images of her nightmare, stared unseeingly ahead of her.

Subconsciously, she recognized that it was just another dream- another nightmare not unlike the ones she'd been having of everyone dying- but her senses seemed to contradict that idea. Unlike the other nightmares that would fade when she awoke, this one hadn't and unlike them, it hadn't been her friends' dead, glassy eyes she'd been staring into, not their dead bloody body that had become painted on her retinas but her own. Furthermore, it was still happening in her waking moment.

She could still hear it, the sounds from her nightmares, almost like they had followed her into the land of wakefulness to continue their torment.

Her eyes shifted as the strange sounds played again, flying to the door as the poundings started, then upwards at the footsteps on the roof. The sound of a slamming door startled her into clutching the sheets tighter, reflexively, protectively around her because inside, unconsciously, she knew…it was coming…the sound that scared her most in her dreams- the sound of a hulking man-beast walking towards her, the heavy feet dragging with every step and then that sound- that muffled, rasping sound that sounded suspiciously like her own voice calling for help.

And then it was quiet, done almost as soon as it started.

Chilled and sweaty, she pulled the sheets from the rest of her body, intending to get some water and a book, since she knew she would not fall back to sleep so easily, only to stop in surprise. She could not move her legs! A chill raced over her body, her heart speeding into overdrive as her feet lay unmoving in the bed despite her best efforts to move them. She tried harder, her confusion giving way to panic as her body continued to refuse to move- bound it seemed by invisible ropes that immobilised her completely. Unable to sit up, and panicking at the crushing pain in her chest when she attempted to do so, Orihime tilted her head towards Tatsuki, pleading silently for help but it was not forthcoming. The other girl slept on, oblivious to the plight of her friend.

Just then, a new feeling washed over her, a sickening feeling that caused her heart to lurch and her stomach to quake violently in response.

Slowly her eyes shifted to the foot of the bed, searching for the source of the new sensation. At first she saw nothing but then it started to appear- a faintly swirling darkness. The darkness swelled, seemingly harmless beyond the eeriness of its presence but in her heart she knew, as surely as she was alive, that something was there inside of it- a panting thing--a man, yes a man--was standing there.

She tried to calm herself. She'd seen ghosts before, fought hollows, been to Hueco Mundo and back…surely this was nothing to get worked up over, she told herself but it all rang falsely to her ears. She couldn't feel any presence from the form just standing there like she could with hollows and other spirits and yet the aura exuding from this thing was forcing her down, keeping her paralysed and immobile on the bed.

The form shifted as if to move towards her and her body tried to shrink back in reaction through its paralysed state.

She wondered why this was happening and what this thing wanted but though her throat worked, trying to form the words to ask, no sound accompanied them and when the form finally raised his head to look directly at her, the words disappeared.

It was like nothing she had seen or felt before- like staring directly into the eyes of death- and yet she was unable to look away from the flaming red orbs suddenly glaring back at her. She felt as if her soul was being yanked from her body with those eyes and probably it was but she felt rather powerless against the sensation, her senses all in tuned with the thing in front of her. Over the roar of her own heartbeat, she could clearly hear the thing's labored breathing, as if it were gasping for breath as it moved closer, tendrils of the dark mist surrounding him, curling out to her. One tendril curled around her throat...a loose but icy hold that made her heart stutter and her panic increase.

"Help me," the scream rose unbidden in her mind then as the tendrils tightened and the glaring red eyes closed in on her… "Help me!"

******************************************************************

Ichigo jerked awake, getting to his feet in one quick movement, his brows furrowed. What the hell was going on, he wondered slightly disoriented. He could have sworn he heard Orihime's voice just a moment ago, screaming for help and yet….

His ears met with the deafening silence of the house now and his scowl deepened. A dream, he wondered as he turned to lie back down, frowning. But it had seemed so real---he could have sworn he had heard her… his frown deepened.

The next morning when Orihime dragged herself into the breakfast room, she did not seem like herself. The memory of her screaming for help fresh in his mind, he could not help but to concernedly note just how exhausted she seemed- almost as if she had not slept a wink all night- or rather for several nights.

His brows drew together in a concerned frown atthat reralisation and at that time, Tatsuki also seemed to take note of her friend.

"Another bad night?" she asked gently, moving to gently rub Orihime's right shoulder, "You don't look like you had much sleep. More nightmares?"

Feeling everyone's eyes suddenly turn on her, Orihime forced herself to smile brightly.

"Iie," she responded, "I got into this book and couldn't stop. Before I realized, it was morning and …I- I just didn't get to sleep…"

It was a lie. He knew it instinctively without knowing why but didn't let himself question it.

Accepting her explanation however, even if somewhat skeptically as he gathered from Rukia's look to him, talk resumed as to the plans for the rest of the day.

Ichigo tried to pay attention and provide input as necessary but more than once, rather than paying attention to the conversation, he felt his eyes drawn to Orihime. Looking somewhat pale still, tendrils of her ginger-colored hair falling over her eyes, she seemed preoccupied with something- so preoccupied it seemed she was incapable of doing much else than push her now cold bacon and eggs around the plate with her fork, her appetite forgotten.

He fund himself still thinking about her appearance and unusual quietness later that afternoon as he stepped out of the shower. It was so abnormal for him to ever see her so quiet and looking so pale and shaken up that he couldn't seem to get it out of his mind and the fact that she hadn't shared anything with anyone as to why was just as worrying.

…and then there was the fact that she'd lied.

Orihime was never one to just lie and to her best friend at that, making him think more than ever that something was definitely wrong.

He'd casually asked Tatsuki a little after breakfast about it, wondering if she knew what was going on but the other girl hadn't. She had admitted that Orihime had been having trouble sleeping lately due to nightmares. She hadn't revealed anything about the content but it was enough though to make him even more concerned. Was she still having problems about the whole Hueco Mundo ordeal, he wondered stepping into the room Sado had taken for the week-end, or was it something else?

He sighed then at the blankness in his mind from the question and shifted his hand to start drying out his hair with the towel he'd draped over it.

It was then, arm lifted up to do just that, that he saw her.

She was nothing more than a pale mist, a still form just staring at him from the dark holes that once held eyes from her position in front of him. He found himself doing pretty much the same thing, just staring back at her and wondering why the hell he still couldn't sense a damn thing. It was as if she had no presence whatsoever…not even the tiny ones he usually felt from other souls.

She kinked her neck with a little popping sound, looking at him from a weird angle like a bright bird, studying him in a way that made him uncomfortable enough to ask, "What are you looking at?"

He received no response to his question and thought she might not even have heard him until, stiffly, she took a step toward him, the spot that had held her eyes never leaving him.

Three steps away from being able to just reach out and touch him, she started to fade away rapidly, her misted body just blowing away like smoke in a wind that should not have been present in the closed room.

"...save her…you have to…" the wind whispered in the wake of her departure and Ichigo was left suddenly even more confused and apprehensive. Just what the hell was going on and who the hell was he supposed to save? Was this part of the competition or something?

He decided to count it, to think of the visit as no more than a one time attempt by the people putting on the competition to scare them. Thus, he was more than mildly surprised when he saw her yet again the next morning when he woke up, the pupilless orbs just staring at him until she faded away. Then he saw her again the next day, this time as he was exploring the cellar. She was sitting this time, again just staring at him as he came in. He tried to ignore her and go about his exploration of the many items displaced all over the walls and floors - the chains, stains and torture devices- but it was rather unnerving with her continued stare. When he turned to confront her, her misty body was just fading away again in a nonexistent breeze, the echo of the morning's message resounding softly in her wake.

He saw her again when he suddenly turned later that night from the television. Thgis time, she was sitting on the couch, directly opposite from him, but again doing nothing other than staring at him.

"Look," he began, his tone annoyed, "this is getting annoying. What the hell do you want? Why don't you go stare at somebody else like Renji? At least ghe has something interesting to look at with all his tattoos....Better yet, that priss Ishida- I'm sure he'd welcome the company..."

Again, she did not answer him and the dark holes of her eyes just continued their staring until she was fading off to wherever it was she disappeared to, that same message lingering in the air again.

He sighed, annoyed at the clichéd ploy and settled under the blankets more comfortably, dismissing it from his mind as he settled back into his bed for the night.

Dismissing her and her warnings turned out harder than he anticipated however as that night, he found his sleep was extremely troubled. For whatever reason, he kept hearing Orihime screaming for help in his head, the voice clear in his mind, very familiar yet not quite hers and, lingering in the background, that voice saying over and over again, "…save her…you have to…save her."

Meanwhile, upstairs, for the third time in just as many nights, Orihime found herself unable to move, awake and alarmingly aware of the dark presence at the foot of her bed, sucking at her energy. It was a new development it seemed- his efforts to feed on her- a progression from the many visits he'd just touched her face, her neck with the cold tendrils of mist that seemed to cling to him and a wholly unwanted one. Not inly was it making her feel light headed and weak but also sick to her stomach and quite delirious. At one point, she even began to think rather fancifully that, in the darkness, she could just make out a reddish glow bouncing off the foot of her bed and a pair of fangs but she was not quite sure it wasn't due to some kind of delirium due to the strong smell of blood tonight.

Her blood.

Her head spun dizzily, her vision blurring as more energy seemed to seep from her body…

I don't, she began then but never finished her thoughts.

She must have passed out or something. However, it wasn't until much later when, yet again, she found herself jolting upwards her breath coming out in harsh gasps and pants from a heavy pressure in her chest that she realised this.

As she struggled, breathing rapidly to calm her racing heart and ease her breathing, her eyes stared into the darkness, seeking some comfort or familiarity in her surrounding. The dull light from the full moon outside her window that, tonight, was almost red behind the perpetual shroud of clouds that cloaked the land, had, however, thrown everything into an eerily unrealistic light. She could still make out the shapes in her room easily enough but only barely so. The room seemed itself just seemed to be filled with an unnatural darkness that clung to every corner and wall, making the room feel very different and unfamiliar- like she was somehow in a different place than where she should be....

Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes briefly before opening then again. her gaze shifted and finally her eyes caught something familiar- the old rocking chair by the window that overlooked the road. Something familiar at last she began to think until, slowly, with a gasp, she realised that someone was sitting there- someone who's shadow was now looming across the floor in the dull light of the red moon. She could hear now the labored guttural breathing over the sound of the night crawlers, breaking through the wind buffeting the house. The chair creaked with movement and her eyes flew upwards to meet the ghoulish grin frozen on the man's face- the face of her now nightly visitor. She found she could not even pull her eyes away or avert them- not anymore than she could stop her body from shivering then when she felt his eyes on her, boring into her.

Slowly, conscious surely that it was being watched from the way those eyes never strayed from her, the figure moved, standing tall and thinas it glided stealthily to her left and towards the wall only to be swallowed by the darkness that lingered there. Yet she knew it was not gone, could still feel his gaze on her as she sat in the bed, her heart beating rapidly.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked weakly, "What do you want? What do you want with me?"

No answer came forward but she knew he was there still, could sense him moving slowly through the wall towards her until she felt the icy tendrils of the mist that was him caressing the side of her face. She jerked at the touch and was rewarded by icy cold, solid feeling hands grasping her arms tightly. The grip was tight, painful and almost at the point where she feared the bone might snap but then her hands were released. The icy limb shifted to her hips, digging deep there, making her gasp silently with fierce burning it started.

Stop it…stop….she wanted to scream at the increasing pain but then, just as suddenly as he had come, he was gone.

It was near impossible for her to fall back asleep after that. She could not shake the feeling that as soon as she closed her eyes, he would be there again and so she just sat, wide awake and bundled in her sheets until light started streaming through the window.

The next morning when she dragged herself down the stairs for breakfast, her skin pale, her eyes dark, it was hard for the others to miss that something was very wrong. Rukia, in the midst of taking a seat, nearly dropped her plate on seeing the haggard girl and Tatsuki looked equally if not more concerned.

"Orihime," she said then as the girl took a seat, "I really think you should talk to somebody about these dreams. It can't be good for you if you're not getting any sleep and looking like this…"

She trailed off as tears suddenly filled the girl's eyes.

No one was able to say anything at that point, unsure on all sides of what they could even say since they were not exactly sure what was going on.

Orihime felt her eyes sting even more at their obvious concern, knowing they only wanted to help but knowing as well that they could do nothing to help her.

"I…I'm not very hungry," she choked out now, getting up again without even looking at her breakfast, "I think I should go back to bed and get some sleep."

She got up to go and without thinking, Ichigo reached out and grabbed her arm, almost pulling back in shock at how cold and clammy her skin felt to the touch.

"Inoue," he started and her eyes misted even more but the tears didn't spill over to her cheeks. Instead, she gave him a tremulous smile.

"I'm okay, Kurosaki-kun...I-I just need to rest a little bit…I'm just feeling very drained."

"…you have to save her," the voice whispered out of nowhere then and Ichigo spun around, surprised, to stare at the empty space the sound had seemed to echo from. When he turned around to look at Orihime again, it was just in time to see the girl's eyes glaze over and her body suddenly go limp.

**********************************************************

"Something's definitely going on here," Ishida commented as they sat huddled together a half an hour later, all of them trying to figure out exactly what was going on, "something we aren't aware of."

"No shit Sherlock," Renji muttered and Ishida glared at him, ready to respond with a scalding retort until Tatsuki's voice broke through.

"I thought it was only the dreams," she said softly, "It was the only thing she said….that she was having nightmares about all of us dying- all of us dying because of her- horrible deaths she said, all because of her."

Under the table, Ichigo's hands clenched at that piece of news, his blunt nails digging bloody half-moons into his palm.

Oblivious to this, Tatsuki continued.

"I tried to reassure her that something like that wasn't going to happen - I mean it would just be ridiculous if something happened to all of us simply because of her... and things did seem to be getting better until…until….god…those bruises…my god…"

"Bruises?" Ishida questioned and Rukia nodded, her expression solemn.

"Something's hurting her," she said and then turned her eyes to Ichigo, "Ichigo, do you remember that time in the park?"

The boy nodded glumly at the memory of the bruise on the girl's leg he knew she was alluding to.

"They were several like that," Rukia continued, "all over her body….like something was holding her tightly...on her arms…her hips" Ichigo felt his heart slow, "and then, there was a cut- a long cut along the side of her leg…"

Tatsuki jumped to her feet then, her eyes almost frantic- A Tatsuki he had never seen and never wanted to see again-, "We have to get her out of here! We have to…"

Rukia stood up and put a hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her and Renji sighed.

"It ain't that easy," he said then, "While you guys were getting Orihime into bed, on a hunch, I checked the doors. They've all been locked from the outside."

"So we have no way out of here?" Ishida enquired, his voice surprisingly calm.

His question met with silence as each person processed exactly what this might mean, then Ichigo spoke.

"Whatever is going on, she's obviously the only one being targeted. None of the rest of us are hurt," he said then, his voice more solid than he thought was possible considering the turmoil inside him, "so until we figure a way out of this then, we have to protect her."

He didn't need any answers to know they were all in agreement with him.

"Rukia," Renji said then, "Have you sensed anything weird?"

Rukia thought for a moment before slowly shaking her head.

"No," she returned, "It's been strange really…a lot like when I first met Ichigo and everything seemed to be coming to me through a thick haze…:"

"We're probably all being blocked off from sensing anything then by some overwhelming spiritual force," Ishida surmised.

Ichigo frowned. Could it be because of that girl?

"I've seen something," he said quietly and all eyes turned to her, "A girl."

"Who is she?" Rukia asked and Ichigo, rather hesitantly, his frown deepening, told them about his visitor, including at the end, the whispered message.

"Could she be taking about Orihime?" Sado questioned and Ishida pushed up his glasses before answering.

"It's very possible," he stated, then turned to Ichigo ,"Is there anything else, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo shook his head. It was enough that he had told them this much - as long as he wasn't sure, he wasn't going to tell them about hearing her screaming in his dreams right now.

"She's probably feeding off of her," Renji said suddenly then and Ichigo's eyes flew to the red-head. "The bruises….the cut, the paleness of her skin and the coldness of her body…it all adds up."

Rukia glanced over at him before speaking.

"Sometimes this happens with souls who come back to see loved ones and such," she offered and the room fell silent again until Tatsuki spoke.

"But Orihime doesn't even know about this place," she interjected.

"But she may look like someone who does," Ishida offered and again silence reigned.

"I don't think it's her," Ichigo put in then, causing all eyes to go to him again, "It's just a feeling…but I don't think it was her."

"Then who?" Ishida asked.

"I don't know," Ichigo almost shouted at him, before reining himself in and running his hand through his hair in agitation, "Damn it all! How the fuck can we protect her from something like this if we don't even know what it is?"

The raw emotion in his voice caused all of them to look at him but lost in his thoughts, the boy did not notice- nor did he care. His only concern was that something was obviously hurting the girl asleep upstairs, hurting her physically and mentally, and, while he had sworn to protect her, he was helpless to do anything to help her despite all his powers.

********************************************************

He was up and waiting for her that night. He wasn't sure she would come but even so, he waited.

And she did not disappoint him. As usual, she appeared, a quiet dark mist slightly in front of him, staring at him from the dark holes of her eyes.

"What's going on?" he demanded immediately moving towards her, "something's going on and you know what it is, don't you?"

The misted form cocked her head to one side and continued to stare at him in that eerily familiar fashion.

His hands curled into fists and he closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath.

There was no reason why he should be so greatly affected by this to the point that he wanted to strangle the information- any information from the misted form- but he was. Just remembering the cold clamminess of her pale skin, and the talk of the bruises....

His hands clenched tighter, his knuckles going white…

Damn it all… why was this even happening to her? Hadn't she been through enough already?

No…he wasn't going to let this happen.

Last time he had been powerless to do anything until after the fact, unaware as he was that she was even gone…but this time- God help him- he was not going to have her disappear from right in front of him…

Determination lighting his eyes, he opened them and stared at the form, unsurprised to see that she was now so close to him, he could smell the putridness of her breath on his face and death.

Her head cocked to the other side, studying him again for a while and then the mist that was her arm reached forward.

He almost flinched as the cold air touched his face but held himself firm, letting the girl touch him.

The head cocked to an almost horizontal position and he could almost swear that if he could indeed see her eyes, they would have had a deep penetrating look in them as it felt like she was trying to see into his very soul at that moment.

Whatever she was looking for, she must have found it though for the next moment, the mist shivered and unmistakably began to take on a more solid form. He still felt no sense of a presence but it was somewhat comforting when those dark orbits suddenly blinked and he found dark pupils staring at him from a pale yet astoundingly beautiful face framed by long, straight dark hair.

"He feeds on her dreams," the new form offered "He wants to devour…he is already feeding from her…he will feed until he has totally devoured her soul…you must save her…you must…"

"How?" he found himself asking.

The woman shook her head.

"He devoured me…I do not know…but she must never be left alone until you are able to leave this place…you cannot leave her…"

She moved in closer to him, her breath smelling of rotten things and death, cold against his cheek.

"The secret is in her dreams…do you want to know?"

Those dreams again…the nightmares…

He hesitated, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at prying into her private thoughts.

"She will die," the woman said then as if reading his hesitation, "she will become like me- doomed to roam this place with no soul, no hope of rebirth…no salvation and no rest."

Something dark flashed in him, an uncomfortable feeling of loss and pain that made him shudder at her words.

"Do it," he said then, his voice firm.

She smiled, a ghoulish sinister curving of her lips and before he could even reconsider, the sharp teeth that he had only just glimpsed in that smile dug into the soft skin of his neck.

His first instinct was to push her away to stop the feeling of weakness and lightheadedness that was starting to fill him but knowing this was possibly his only chance to help Orihime, he held himself still, clenching his hands at his side when the pain became overwhelming and it felt like his energies were being sucked out to the point of passing out.

He blinked then trying to clear the spots from his eyes and when he opened them again, it was like the world had become a kind of movie. He could see he was in the room where Orihime had been placed, could see Rukia and Tatsuki asleep in the room next to her…

It was then he realized that he was seeing the world through Orihime's eyes, watching her friend's sleep from her spot huddled under the sheets.

"He will only appear to her," he heard the woman whisper in his head, "the only way you can see him is if she lets you in…there has to be a connection…"

A connection…

His eyes fell to her huddled form…

He had always felt strangely connected and protective of her but did that count as a connection?

"He's coming," the voice echoed in his head and his question seemed to be answerd when his mind seemed to become one with the girl huddled in the bed.

Then he felt it- the overwhelming terror that consumed the girl as she laid there, her eyes closed in the darkness. He could hear as well, sense it as clearly as she did, the sound of someone calling her name and could not escape the goose-bumps that suddenly filled his own arms as the girl shivered, her teeth sounding together when the air seemed to suddenly drop in temperature.

Even as he struggled to make sense of this, his mind became aware of another thing and when her eyes flew towards the sensation, he saw him, saw him for the first time- a man cloaked in darkness, just standing there at the foot of her bed.

He could clearly see the emaciated shape as it stepped closer, the nefarious grin curving the lips…

Orihime tightly shut her eyes again, feeling a freezing fear start at her feet and work its way up her body and straight up to her head as she sensed the man slowly approach her. She could hear and feel him walking from the foot of the bed to where she lay and instinctively she tried to disappear more into the sheets until she found that she was unable to move.

The fear of what was going to happen bubbled like a cauldron of darkness in her stomach then, making her feel like something dark and prickly was sliding through her. Her tongue began to feel numb, as if coated by the anesthetic she had gotten from her dentist last year and mistakenly gotten on her tongue, and her mouth felt as if all her saliva had suddenly dried up and her mouth and throat had become a desert. Her heart, beating rapidly, loudly, in her chest, stopped alarmingly when she suddenly felt the cold tendrils of the man's hands crawl over her face. She could smell a rotting stench, hear the man breathe through his teeth, but refused to open her eyes. Instead, she laid there, stiff as a board, trembling, and breathing rapidly, praying he would disappear, yet trapped in the horrible darkness of her nightmares with him- with this man who by now was leaning over her.

Pulling her sheets away from her, she felt his hand ghost over her chest, across her abdomen...

"Stop…"

The soft cry was ripped from her in a voice that sounded like hers and yet not hers.

"Please…no…"

His response was to dig into the soft skin of her hips as he had the last time but with more pressure, causing her eyes to mist with tears from the pain.

"Help me," the cry came from within again as the fierce burning started again, "Tatsuki-chan…Kuchiki-san…Sado-kun…Kurosaki-kun…somebody help me!"

The dark figure smiled menacingly over her, leaning up to whisper against her face, "They won't hear you. They won't help you…they don't even care. Look at them…they're all sleeping in their happy little worlds not even thinking about you…because you are nothing to them…just a burden…"

Despite her intentions, her eyes flew open at his words. It was the first time he had spoken to her and yet it seemed he was reading a script from her own inner thoughts.

"They'll never hear you," the creature said against her ear, "because they can't. They don't care enough to hear your foolish cries. So, little girl, just be quiet and come with me. You're tired of being a burden aren't you?" Slowly, the man climbed into the bed and positioned himself so that he was lying on Orihime, his cold body pressing her down painfully into the hard springs.

Orihime couldn't stop her body from shaking at this or from shuddering when a small nip came at her neck…

"Help me," her mind screamed frantically again, "help me…Kurosaki-kun!"

It was at this point that he suddenly found himself back in the living room and, the image fresh in his head, he jerked up out of the couch, the movement so quick he got a headache, and raced up the stairs.

He was still in there.

He knew it and knowing that made a feeling of panic and apprehension rip through him like never before. Frantically he clutched at the lock, ready to burst in but the door did not budge.

It had been locked…

"Fuck it," he swore in a way that was not quite like him and started to pound on the door. "Inoue! Inoue open up the door! Tatsuki! Rukia! Damn it! Inoue!"

"What the fuck is your problem?" a half asleep Renji growled from next to him then, "Why the fuck are ya beating down the door like a madman? Have ya finally lost it?"

"Inoue!" Ichigo called again, his voice increasing with the power of his fist on the door, ignoring Renji until the redhead grabbed his arm and forcefully thrust him from the door.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he shouted at him and Ichigo noticed for the first time the slightly concerned looks on the faces of Ishida and Sado behind the redhead.

He opened his mouth to answer him but then there was a sudden crash from inside the room.

"Damn it. It's hurting her," he said and moved towards the door again.

Renji grabbed his shoulder stopping him and when he turned, his fist already raised to knock the redhead out if need be, Sado broke through both of them and with a mighty kick, smashed the door in.

The sight that met them gave them pause but only momentarily as there, right before their eyes was a figure, a yellow, fiery glow surrounding him, the darkly funneling cloud spinning out from the center of the yellow and enveloping the figure as he dragged the seemingly unconscious form of Orihime by a limp hand towards a dark ominous circle in the wall.

Understanding seemed to dawn on all of them at once but it was Ichigo who reached her first. His body just reacted and then he was there, his arms wrapped so tightly around her waist he feared he would break some ribs as he tried to stop her.

He felt Sado grab on to him and felt the added strength of his friends as they joined him but their efforts seemed like nothing.

The figure kept going forward, unhindered by their efforts, closer and closer to the black hole.

"Wake up, Inoue!" he shouted in desperation, "Wake up!"

The girl remained unmoved and the figure, knowing he was there it seemed, turned and smirked at him.

"This isn't working," Ishida stated as they continued to be pulled towards the dark vortex, "We have to figure out something else."

Ichigo barely heard him above the rage slowly building in him.

He was going to lose her again….because of his powerlessness, he was going to lose another person...

It was the lone thought that echoed in his mind, followed quickly by the thought- I can't lose her ….I can't…

He didn't question those thoughts.

No, he let it feed the feeling building up on him to the point he could hear nothing over the blood rushing in his ears, barely heard it even when Sado suddenly pulled the others away from him with a shout…

"I'm not going to lose another person," he shouted at the dark being without thinking then, "Not even to you."

And with that, his own dark energy rushed from his body like a blast of wind.

The others, Tatsuki and Rukia now up, huddled in the corner, wondering what was going on, until the dust cleared and a maskless Ichigo with pitch black eyes and pale irises stood before them.

A demon, as dark as the demon before him, he faced the dark being, his bearing determined, his voice clear and hard when he said, "You picked the wrong fucking girl to prey on. Let her the fuck go before I make you."

******************************************************************

"How is everyone else?"

"Uninjured for the most part," Ishida offered to the shopkeeper who had miraculously appeared not too long ago- and, what would you know, at the climax of the battle, "Orihime-san was the one hurt the most."

The orange-haired boy standing just inside the door flinched slightly at that and then without a word, just turned and walked away.

"Just leave him be," Sado's voice broke out in the silence of his absence as Rukia got up to follow him, "he has a lot on his mind."

Outside, Ichigo's hand slammed into the rough bark of the tree again, his body not even flinching from the pain or the blood trickling down his arm. Again and again his fist met the rough bark until he cursed, his head bending to touch the wood while the crimson flow from his knuckles dripped to the ground, staining the earth beneath him.

_Why hadn't he ever noticed it_? He questioned himself in anger, _had he been so blind to it all that he hadn't noticed her suffering? Hadn't noticed her insecurities, her doubts about her importance in their group? Why hadn't he seen it?_

Because of that, she had almost disappeared again- taken by that demon not unlike how she had been taken by Ulquiorra- when he should have been watching over her…if that shopkeeper hadn't managed to get them out at that time….what would have happened?

"Damn," he murmured softly in frustration, his fist hitting the bark again and drawing more blood, "damn…damn…fuck!"

He stayed like that for a while, beating out and cussing out his frustration until tired yet unsure of where he even wanted to go from there and with no destination in mind, he found himself walking around. He wasn't too surprised though when his wandering led him to be staring down at her a few minutes later

She was as wrapped up in white bandages as he was, probably more so than him, and there was blood soaking a few of them still. Her face was serene, yet pale, making the red blood and dark black and blue marks on her face look even darker and starker in comparison to her skin.

Seeing this, his fists clenched, a few of the wounds starting to bleed again and drip unnoticed to the floor and he found himself haunted with emotions. There was always the guilt and self anger but underlying these, there was also a bleak, unsettling feeling that made the whole mess of emotions that much harder to bear but for which he had no name.

His inner self screamed at him for absolution, screaming for her to wake up and say something- to blame him, shout at him for failing her again, for failing to see… It was selfish and sadistic but he wanted to hear her say it- say that it was his fault. And yet, in the back of his mind, he knew unequivocally that she would not. She was not that type of person.

He turned away from her peaceful face then, fixing his eyes on a spot above her head on the wall.

"Gomen, Inoue…I…I." he whispered in the quiet, "despite my promise, I failed you again…"

His finders dug deeper into his palm and, drained, he slumped against the wall across from her and closed his eyes.

"I will get stronger," he had promised her, "I will get stronger and next time, I'll definitely protect you."

And yet he'd failed…

Why was it that he always seemed to fail her?

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When Orihime finally woke up, it was to be greeted with an unfamiliar room. Her heart jerked but then calmed as she realised where she was- lying on a futon in one of the back rooms at Urahara shoten, the same one she'd occupied before after that arrancar attack.

With that realisation, another was quick on its heels- the realisation that she wasn't alone. Her eyes followed the path of the shoes up to the bright orange head of the boy asleep next to her, his back against the wall, one leg drawn up with his head resting back against the wall.

Surprise at seeing him there held her still for a while but then the memories started to rush back in bit by bit. She heard him calling her again and despite the pain emanating through her body, her lips curved into a smile.

_Tatsuki-chan had been right_, she thought to herself then, _he doesn't scowl when he sleeps…and he always comes after his friends…_

Her eyes saddened at another memory, a similar event, the smile faltering a little until she rose, gritting her teeth against the pain in her shoulder and moved towards him. Looking at his sleeping face closer, she resisted the urge to run her hand through his orange spikes, brush her knuckles against his cheek and simply moved to drape the blanket that had been warming her around him.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she whispered to his sleeping form then, "Thank you for saving me again."

And then she turned, ignoring the dizzying pain and stiffness in her limbs and headed for the door.

"Soten Kishun," she whispered softly as she reached for the door and almost instantly Shunou and Ayame were there.

Ichigo jerked up less than an hour later. As he reached up to rub his burning eyes , three things hit him: 1. he wasn't home, 2. it was really dark where he was and 3, once realization started to set in, he couldn't sense the girl who should have been lying in the room.

He jumped up then, racing outside, ready to start tearing everything apart to find her when he suddenly came to a stop.

Oblivious to the small panic she had created, the girl stood, her face raised to the softly blowing wind, the ginger tresses floating about her.

She looked like a goddess.

The imagery fixated in his mind for a moment but was quickly overlaid by unbidden picture of her bloody, bruised body…

His eyes shifted away, remorse filling him.

She had believed him when he said he would protect her-had been screaming to him for help…

And yet, he'd almost failed her again and she had ended up hurt again- because of him...

I always fail to protect her, he thought again thinking back, Because of me…because of these powers…she's always in danger and though I promised to protect her... Fuck, what's the point of these powers if I can't even keep my promise to protect her?

Unaware of the boy behind her or his internal struggle, Orihime had just decided it was time to go home when when he spoke, the sound of her name sounding loud in the quiet of the evening making her spin around in surprise to face him.

"You shouldn't be out here," he said then and she gave him what she oped was a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine...I called Ayame and Shunou to heal me so I'm quite alright... You don't have to worry..."

Her voice faded at the pained expression that suddenly crossed his features- a look she knew perhaps to well from the many times it seemed she had been on the receiving end.

He was blaming himself for her injuries...

"Kurosaki-kun," she began but he interrupted her gently with his softly spoken apology.

"Gomen, Inoue. I...Because of ...."

"Iie," she interrupted, "this isn't your fault. This is no one else's fault but mine. If I were just a little stronger…but because I'm still so weak…I let him take over…If I were just a little stronger…"

The demon's words laced hers in his ears was all he could hear and he acted without thinking again, something he seemed to be doing a lot of recently around her. His hand grabbed her roughly, pulling a surprised gasp out of her but he was beyond caring for such a trivial thing.

"Don't you fucking get it?" he hissed at her, "he shouldn't have even fucking gotten that close! Not to you! I should have been protecting you…I promised to protect you, didn't I?"

Orihime's breath whooshed out of her lungs as he suddenly pulled on her arm, slamming her forcefully into his chest.

"Damn it, Inoue, I promised to protect you and yet… I almost lost you again," he said in a voice no higher than a whisper.

Orihime's eyes widened in shock, her thoughts racing at his words. Was he even aware of what he was saying? she wondered slightly panicked. Surely he had meant to say 'we' when he said 'I'...he wasn't the greatest communicator after all and he certainly could not be saying what she thought he was or even insinuating…

Oblivious to the weight of the words he'd uttered, Ichigo tried to pull himself together.

He buried himself in feeling the warmth of her small body, the steady thud of her heart against his chest, using those things to steady himself against the barrage of ugly images suddenly racing through his head. Again he heard Grimmjow's voice insinuating something was wrong with her, saw her being manhandled by Noitora and Tesla, saw her with Grimmjow's hand around her neck, her crying face, saw that demon over her, and felt her fear, felt his hands on her, touching her…

He breathed in deeply at that particular memory, letting her sweet smell wash over him, calming him and his mind- causing the images to dissipate. His mind sprung anew another image in replacement- his first glimpse of her as he had come out, bathed in moonlight- an ethereal goddess.

_Our goddess_, his hollow affirmed, voicing his thoughts for the first time since his partial appearance that day, _our goddess_.

The words shocked him but surprisingly not as much as it should have. Inwardly, he guessed, he'd known it was true- that without him quite knowing how, when, why or where, this girl had wormed her way into his heart and firmly fixated herself there. It may have taken another near death experience for him to finally understand this- though he was sure he was not so dense he wouldn't have figured it out sooner rather than later- but now that he knew, he also knew that he was never going to let her out of his sight again…

"Inoue…"

He leaned back slightly, putting a hand under her chin so that he could look down into her flushed face.

"H-H-hai," she answered nervously, her face coloring slightly at his closeness.

"I want you to promise me something," he said, the urgency of his tone making her heart speed up slightly, "Promise me.... promise me you'll never go anywhere without me. Or at least without Tatsuki, or even Ishida, Chad, Rukia or Renji."

His tone was frightening, scaring her with its intensity. Her mouth opened to say so, but no answer came and he shook her gently and fair growled low at her "Promise me!"

"Hai," she answered and getting the answer he wanted, his body visibly uncoiled from the taut tense feeling that had filled him even as his arms tightened around her reflexively.

She made a little squeak of protest when his hold got even tighter and raised her head, ready to explain to him that he was actually hurting her, his hold causing pressure to build up in her lungs to a painful extent. The words died however when he raised his head and the brown eyes she had come to know and love were replaced by dark orbits and pale irises. A small stirring of fear began in her stomach but she didn't move. No matter what shape he took, she knew, this person was also still Kurosaki-kun and unlike before, she was not going to confuse him for the hollow that had been her brother. So she stood still, watching those eyes washing over her until they lingered on her lips and then back up to her eyes.

Something sparked in those dark depths as they made eye contact with hers again, something that made a small tingle race up her spine in apprehension - and anticipation?

"Kuro-," she began but got no further than that as his lips crashed down on hers, choking off her words as they moved over hers- hot, needy, hard and demanding.

She froze in response and for a brief moment, it occurred to him that, seeing his eyes at that time, she might push him away but much to his surprise, the girl did the exact opposite. Her hands shifted and came around his neck, her fingers burying in his hair as she pulled him even closer to her.

His response to that was to hold her closer, crushing her soft frame into his hard angles so tightly it was hard to tell where he stopped and she started. It was like he was trying to draw her into himself, mold her to him so tightly that she would never be too far away from him…

In his mind, he admitted he might be trying to do exactly that. If she was a part of him, he reasoned, she would never be able to leave him, nothing could take her away…nothing.

His head shifted, providing with an angle that allowed him to plunder her mouth even more thoroughly.

He didn't just want this, he realised then, he needed this. He needed to feel her, taste her, smell her- to know on every level that she was here, still alive…

One of his hand shifted into her hair, his fingertips gliding across her sensitized scalp and making her gasp. He took advantage of that opening, sliding his tongue into her mouth and sweeping it through the sweet hot cavern of her mouth.

Her taste was something he could live on he decided then, and very addictive… He might never want to stop.

Her body seemed to just melt into his as he scraped a finger across her scalp again and a low involuntary moan caressed his ears.

Yes…she was delectable, addictive and all his…

When he finally pulled away many moments later, it was only to rest his forehead against hers, his breath fanning her kiss swollen lips as he watched her dark grey eyes open up.

"I'm not losing you again," he said simply, his voice rough, "and i won't let you get hurt. I'll keep my promise from now on, Inoue. I will get stronger and next time, I'll definitely protect you."

She smiled tremulously, her soft hand brushing his cheekbone, her eyes misting with unshed tears at his words and the solemness of his gaze.

"Thank you," she whispered and the darkness started to fade away from his eyes as he crushed her to him again, drawing on her warmth.

From the dark shadows of the house, red eyes watched over the embracing teens, a familiar menacing grin lighting the misted face.

"Foolish children, this is far from over. I'll be back," the form whispered, " So hold on to her as tightly as you can for now, boy," the thing licked its lips, tasting her essence on his tongue again, "I'll be back to claim her as mine soon enough...my toy."

A dark chuckle followed this statement, carrying down to the teens whose eyes shot upwards at the now empty spot, wisps of darkly curling mists the only evidence of the presence that had been lingering there.

Owari

Please remember to review- drop me a line to let me know what you think!


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